In this instalment of 'Start-up spotlight' – which celebrates small and early-stage businesses and their innovations – we speak to Lucie Campbell, co-founder of Riff Snacks: a start-up born out of UK food and agriculture specialist university Harper Adams, centred around low-waste plant-based snacks made with surplus and 'wonky' ingredients.

What led to Riff’s establishment, and what is the company’s long-term goal?

Riff started as a Young Enterprise start-up at university. We’d actually never met before, but we all shared a passion for food and a drive to stop food waste. We wanted to develop a real product to solve that problem. It all kicked off when we had hundreds of surplus, bruised bananas coming into our community fridge from local supermarkets. We used the university's development kitchen and freeze-dryers to turn that wonky fruit into high-fibre, high-protein snack bars.

From there, we realised so many other fruits were facing the same fate, like pulp-apple from cider making, wonky apples, cocoa bean shells and heaps of other ingredients we’re excited to try. Our long-term goal is to get Riff snacks on as many shelves and into as many homes as possible, rescuing as much food as we can regardless of whether it’s bruised or wonky, while driving up fibre awareness and improving gut health.

How is the brand differentiated, and what gap does the product fill in the UK snack market?

When we were developing Riff, we noticed a massive gap in the market. Very few snack bars were actually healthy, most protein bars lacked fibre, and most fibre bars lacked protein. We solved both: every bar has 10-15g of prebiotic fibre and 10g of protein. On top of that, they’re wrapped in home-compostable packaging, plant-based, dairy-free, and use wonky, upcycled fruit saved via brand-new microwave-drying tech. That combination of real nutrition, fruity flavours and sustainability really sets us apart.

Research shows consumer understanding of fibre intake is limited. What role can food brands play in improving education?

Look at what the industry did for protein, we need to do the exact same thing for fibre. It might not sound super glamorous, but it’s arguably even more important for our health. Everyone needs to start shouting about it from the rooftops. But people don't want to be lectured; we have to make it accessible, obvious and affordable. Fibre gets skipped far too often because it adds cost or complexity, but as brands, we can use this opportunity to actually improve people’s health.

How does your upcycling and drying process work?

Our upcycling approach is all about finding where food falls through the cracks, identifying where current supply chains lack the infrastructure to handle surplus fruit, and turning that fruit into something healthy, sustainable and delicious.

We use innovative microwave-drying technology to do this. It’s 80% more energy-efficient than traditional freeze-drying, preserves higher nutritional quality and captures the fruit’s best state. It’s a process we hope to see applied across the wider food system.

What have you observed regarding consumer awareness of upcycling?

From our own customer surveys, awareness around upcycling is still pretty limited. Wording matters a lot here, sometimes 'upcycled' makes people think a product is recycled or processed in an unappealing way. We’ve found that using terms like 'wonky fruit' is much more digestible. It resonates immediately, people get it, and it gives us a friendly entry point to educate them further on food waste.

Was being vegan and plant-based an intentional focus from day one?

It wasn't actually a conscious decision at the very beginning, it just naturally aligned with our product development. We saw zero reason to add dairy; we wanted our snacks to be accessible to as many people as possible. Plus, plants offer incredible nutrition on their own, we source our high-quality protein directly from ingredients like pea protein and hemp seeds.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

Hands down, trying to scale a 'wonky' supply chain! Because the fruit isn't standard, the logistics are wonky too, and building that pipeline from scratch is something we’re constantly working on. Formulating the recipes is also a non-stop challenge, we’re always tweaking and redeveloping based on real customer feedback to make the taste and texture as good as possible.

What is the company’s biggest achievement to date?

Coming third in the European Enterprise Start-up Finals! Standing on that podium alongside incredible companies from across Europe, many founded by PhD or Master’s students while we were just first-year undergrads. It was a huge proud parent moment. It showed us that all the late nights and hard work were paying off and that this was only the start of the journey.

What’s next for Riff?

Scaling production. We’re expanding our capacity to get more products out onto shelves. We also have a few exciting developments in the pipeline: deeper testing with our microwave-drying technology, strengthening our supply chains and maybe even dropping a couple of seasonal flavours soon.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring start-ups?

Ask for help. Don’t pretend you know everything. There are so many people and mentors out there willing to support you if you’re honest, work hard and have good intentions. Be a total sponge – accept that there’s always more to learn, and just enjoy the journey!